P values of <005 were considered significant Statistical analys

P values of <0.05 were considered significant. Statistical analysis was performed using spss version 17 software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). All experiments were carried out at least in triplicate. Table 1 shows the MICs of allicin and fluconazole against C. albicans ATCC 14053 and some clinical isolates. The results are representative of two

independent experiments arranged in triplicate. The MIC50 and MIC90 of these isolates ranged from 0.05 to 0.78 μg mL−1 and 0.1 to 12.5 μg mL−1, respectively for allicin, and from 0.25 to 4 μg mL−1 and 2 to 16 μg mL−1, respectively, for fluconazole. All samples were sensitive to fluconazole and drug resistance was not seen. The potency of allicin and fluconazole in decreasing the cell number of C. albicans ATCC

14053 after 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 24 h was significant compared selleck screening library with the control growth (Fig. 1). Figure 1a and b indicate the inhibitory effect of allicin and fluconazole on different inoculum sizes of C. albicans. The significant reduction of Candida treated with allicin and fluconazole started after 4-h incubation (P<0.01) in comparison to untreated control for both inoculum sizes (Fig. 1). Candida albicans cells grown in RPMI 1640 medium at 35 °C showed typical yeast cells with a smooth surface after 24 h, but cells treated with increasing concentration of allicin or fluconazole displayed changes find more in surface morphology, with the cell surface becoming rough and irregular. According to Lemar et al. (2005) the main reason for this phenomenon could be a decreased cytoplasmic volume. It was also observed in the present study that higher concentrations of the antifungal agents (such as 10 × MIC) destroyed the cell surface, inducing puncture in allicin-treated samples and causing cell lysis in fluconazole-treated samples (Fig. 2). The results of fungal load determination PTK6 in the liver, kidney and spleen at different time points indicated a significant

reduction of CFU g−1 of the tissue (P<0.001) starting from the second day postinfection for different dosages of the antifungals. In addition, the reduction of Candida cells CFU in tissues after 28 days postinfection ranked from 5 mg kg−1 day−1 fluconazole >1 mg kg−1 day−1 fluconazole >5 mg kg−1 day−1 allicin >1 mg kg−1 day−1 allicin (Table 2). As described before, the mortality and morbidity of the treated mice were evaluated for 28 days postinfection. Table 3 also shows the mean survival time (MST) of mice treated with different drugs. Moreover, based on statistical analysis of log rank=13.449 in this study, comparison of the mean of survival time between treated and control groups indicated significant differences (P<0.05) (Fig. 3). Previous reports have demonstrated the antifungal activity of allicin in vitro against Aspergillus, Trichophyton and Candida spp. (Yamada & Azuma, 1977; Aala et al., 2010). On the other hand, the antifungal potential of allicin against Aspergillus spp. was presented by Shadkchan et al.